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Wedding of Tom Riddle Senior and Merope Gaunt
}} The wedding of Tom Riddle Senior and Merope Gaunt 'was held in either the autumn or winter of 1925. The wedding likely took place in Little Hangleton, since both the bride and groom had lived in the village prior to the marriage. Their marriage only lasted one short year, before Riddle abandoned his pregnant wife. History Prelude Tom Riddle was a snobbish Muggle sqiurearch who was in a relationship with a woman named Cecilia, while Merope Gaunt was a witch who came from a poor, abusive household. Merope developed an unhealthy attraction to Riddle, often watching him in secret. The marriage was instigated by Merope's use of a powerful Love Potion to drug Riddle or her casting the Imperius Curse on him, forcing him to fall in "love" with her. The marriage was regarded as scandalous by the people of Little Hangleton, due to the bride and groom's extremely different backgrounds. Merope was a pure-blood witch, the last daughter of a very ancient pure-blood supremacist wizarding family known as the House of Gaunt, who were all denounced by the villagers as mentally unstable due to generations of inbreeding and impoverished since the their inheritable gold was squandered. The groom was a Muggle, the son of the wealthy Thomas Riddle and Mary Riddle, who were generally disliked among the villagers, also due to their attitude. Wedding Only Merope's father Marvolo Gaunt and brother Morfin Gaunt were absent at the wedding, since they were both arrested by the Ministry of Magic months prior. Although the marriage raised plenty of eyebrows, there were some in Little Hangleton who thought that due to the unpopularity of both families that the bride and groom may have found commonality; in essence Merope and Tom were two lonely young people who found soulmates in each other. Marvolo's reaction, after being released from Azkaban before Morfin, was much more severe. He returned home, foolishly expecting to find his daughter with a hot meal prepared for him, but instead found his house abndoned with a clear inch of dust and a letter from Merope explaining what happened. Upon learning that his daughter married a Muggle, the shock was so great that he never acknowledged her existence again and it may have contributed to his death. Or perhaps, he was so dependent on Merope for so long, that he never learned how to feed himself and soon starved to death. Upon his own release, Morfin labeled his sister a "little slut" who dishonored the name Gaunt. Marriage After the wedding, Merope took Riddle to London. A few months later, Merope became pregnant with a son. Hoping that Riddle would have developed genuine love for her, or would at least stay to raise the child with her, Merope revealed to him that she was a witch, and either stopped giving him love potions or casting the Imperius Curse on him. When Riddle regained his free will, he left the still-pregnant Merope, returning to his ancestral manor. Aftermath , the product of the marriage]] Although no one knew at the time, the wedding would end up becoming one that had shaped the history of the wizarding world, as well as causing some of the most notorious atrocities in the history of that world and the Muggle world. On 31 December, 1926, Tom Marvolo Riddle, the only child of Merope and Tom, was born. The younger Riddle would as an adult become known as Lord Voldemort, the most powerful Dark Wizard in history. The revelations of his paternal lineage disgusted the younger Riddle to the point where he despised Muggles and wizards with Muggle relations for the rest of his life. Tom Riddle Jr appeared to believe that his father willingly married his mother and abandoned her once he found out she was a witch. Merope's act of using magic to coerce Tom into this wedding is a symbolic reason for Voldemort's inability to understand love, as there is little more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a loveless union. Attendees TomRiddleSenior.jpeg|'Groom:Tom Riddle Senior Merope gaunt.jpg|'Bride':Merope Gaunt Appearances * Notes and references es:Boda de Tom Ryddle Sr. y Merope Gaunt Category:Articles related to Horcruxes Category:Weddings